Celtic's Erik Sviatchenko (right) brings down Ross Draper but no penalty is given

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RAGING Richie Foran accused ropey ref Don Robertson of bottling the decision to send off Erik Sviatchenko as his courageous Caley side earned a last-gasp draw against Celtic.

The Inverness boss was fuming at the whistler and claimed he got a huge first half call wrong when he didn’t show Dane Sviatchenko a red card for a last-man challenge on Ross Draper.

Robertson didn’t take any action and shortly after the controversial incident Scott Sinclair restored Celtic’s lead after Billy King had cancelled out Tom Rogic’s opener for the champions in the Highlands.

The home side still managed to grab a point at the death after substitute Alex Fisher’s headed equaliser just a minute from the end with the former Torquay man’s first goal for Caley.

And while the result moves the Highlanders off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table, Foran was still unhappy and said of Sviatchenko’s challenge: “It was outside the box, but it was a clear free-kick which leads to a clear sending off.

Billy King is mobbed after pulling Inverness level

“You need brave referees at times like that. Ross pushed the ball in front of their player, got his body in the way and he has been wiped out. It was a clear for anyone to see.

“I was very disappointed not to get that decision. It changed the whole outlook of the game without a doubt. If they go to 10 men it gives us a big boost. It was quite obvious for the whole stadium to see. The only one who didn’t think it was a free-kick was the referee unfortunately.

“I had a chat with the referree. He didn’t think Ross had control of the ball. Obviously, we have had the luxury of seeing it back on TV but e has made the wrong decision.

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“But in the first half I thought we were terrific. We played with a really high pace and matched Celtic all over the park. It was very even. In the second half we struggled to get the ball back from Celtic, but they can do that to teams.

“I told the lads at half time that we would get one chance, to believe we would get one chance, and we did. It was a great ball in by Greg and a great finish by Alex. I am delighted for us, delighted for the lads.

“Owain Fon Williams in goal was excellent. He hadn’t trained all week either and was struggling with a groin problem but passed a fitness test this morning.

“I was humming and hawing about whether to leave him out but I had a good chat with him and he was honest and straight and said he wasn’t feeling right at all.

“But we took a little chance on him and he was immense, touching them off the crossbar and stuff.”

Hoops gaffer Brendan Rodgers said of the Sviatchenko incident: “I haven’t seen it but they tell me some people have watched it eight times and they’re not sure. I thought the referee was good today.”

The Irishman was disappointed to see his side’s perfect league start come to an end with the 2-2 draw coming off the back of their 7-0 Champions League hammering in Barcelona.

He said: “We deserved the three points. Give credit to Inverness they kept going, they kept fighting, even though we could have scored more goals in the second half.

Inverness keeper Owain Fon Williams picks the ball out of his net after conceding a second goal

“We were disappointed to concede from the corner. But they tell me that notoriously it’s a tough place to come and our general performance, especially in the second half, was better.

“Their keeper made some great saves, a couple of them looked like they were certs to go in. Obviously when the game is at 2-1 and no matter how dominant you are you need that third goal to get any sort of comfort in the game so when we didn’t get it we were leaving ourselves open a little bit to the equalising goal.

“But we have to defend it better. I still feel there is a lot of work to do on the standard of our game, both offensively and defensively. It’s a team formed over the course of the summer and there are still changes because of the level of the games we’ve been playing and the football we are trying to play.”

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Sinclair became the first Celtic player to score in each of the opening five league games since Jimmy McGrory 82 years ago and Rodgers smiled: “If he ends up like Jimmy it’ll be alright, he’ll be in the Celtic musical!

“You can see his quality. He hasn’t had many miles on the clock. He is 27. You see his speed and his natural finishing ability. He will be disappointed he hasn’t scored more today. For him, he is really enjoying his life up here. He loves playing for Celtic. He is a player who will go on and be a great servant for the club.”